Preventing and Treating Colds and Flus

December 10, 2014

Winter Cometh!

By Dr. Jeremy Fischer, a naturopathic doctor practicing in Los Angeles, serving West LA, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Culver City and the rest of the west side, as well as Studio City.

For those of us living in Southern California, the winter season isn’t anywhere near as dramatic as where I grew up, in Long Island, New York. Winter used to mean frozen fingers, shoveling snow in the morning so that you could get your car out of the driveway, and facing chilling cold every time you went outside. Here, the temperature dips to a range that is, in my opinion, refreshing, though I know not everyone agrees. At any rate, the change in temperature is still enough to foster the spread of viral illnesses such as colds and flus.

Whether we get sick during the cold season isn’t purely up to fate. We can do a lot to bolster our immunity and decrease the risk of getting sick.

Hygiene

Avoid close contact with others who have cold/flu symptoms. If you come down with a flu-like illness yourself, stay home at least 24 hours after the fever has resolved (without the use of fever-suppressant medications), to avoid spreading the illness to others. Of course, exceptions to this are if you are leaving the house to see a doctor or get other medical care, or other necessities. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when sneezing or coughing, and dispose of the tissue after use. Avoid touching your nose, eyes, and mouth, which can spread germs. Wash your hands, frequently, with soap and water. An alcohol-based disinfectant is a second-best alternative. I do not endorse the regular use of antibacterial soaps or washes, as they increase your burden of toxic chemical exposures. Furthermore, they will not protect against viruses.

Immune boosting

There are a number of measures we can take to improve our immune response.

  • Sleep: Sleep is incredibly important for so many reasons, not the least of which is proper immune function. Getting proper sleep at night has been shown to be an important factor in the body’s development of ‘adaptive immunity’, which is an important primary mechanism used to counter viral infections. Prolonged sleep deprivation has been associated with increased susceptibility to colds and decreased immune response to influenza vaccination.(1) Sleep losses of just 2-8% – i.e .10-38 minutes less for someone who sleeps eight hours – was associated with 3.9 times increased risk of catching a cold in one study!(2) So get to bed, often, and sleep well. If you’re not falling asleep and staying asleep, come see me so that we can treat your sleep issues.  Proper sleep is also important for hormone regulation, mood, weight control, fighting cancer, and healing from injury, to name a few. In our high-paced society, many of us are pushed to work harder, longer. Please don’t underestimate the negative impact that loss of sleep can have on your health.

  • Vitamin D: Low blood levels of vitamin D are associated with increased risk of respiratory tract infection, and supplementation has been shown in randomized controlled trials to decrease that risk.(3) Since vitamin D serum levels can vary widely, depending on skin color, sun exposure, diet, and genetic factors, it is important to get your vitamin D levels tested. Your naturopathic doctor can advise on the correct amount of vitamin D for you to be taking.

  • Exercise: Getting regular strenuous exercise improves immune response . However extremely intense exercise loads (such as marathon running, or training done by professional athletes) can impair your immunity. As we get older, maintaining vigorous physical conditioning by engaging in regular exercise is even more important than ever, as aging is associated with declining immune function. But those elderly persons who are highly conditioned show superior immune function as compared with the sedentary elderly.(4)

  • Diet: Eating a variety of whole foods, including plenty of fruits and vegetables, ensures you get the various vitamins and minerals required for proper immune function. Steer clear of added sugars, which may suppress immune function.

When you get sick

If you do get sick there are a number of steps you can take to decrease the symptoms of the illness and decrease the number of days you are sick.

  • Vitamin C – vitamin C taken orally in high doses has been shown to decrease the symptoms associated with cold and flu. In my office, I administer an anti-viral IV therapy (aka intravenous nutrient therapy) for the flu and other viral illnesses, which includes high-dose vitamin C.(5) When vitamin C reaches very high levels in the blood – levels only achieved via IV therapy – vitamin C has been shown to act as an oxidant, killing viruses and virus-infected cells. The use of high dose vitamin C for viral diseases, including influenza and viral pneumonia, has been used as far back as the 1940’s. In my anti-viral immune IV, I combine high dose vitamin C with other vitamins, minerals, and herbal anti-viral constituents, to fight viral illnesses. Please click on the link above entitled ‘IV therapy’ to learn more.

  • Herbal medicine – Western and Chinese herbs include powerful immune stimulants and anti-virals, as well as herbs that reduce symptoms. In the office, I prescribe customized herbal formulations that treat your individual symptoms and disease picture. No individual is alike, and influenza in one patient may need to be treated quite differently from that of another patient.

  • Sweating – Fevers and sweating often occur naturally with the flu, although many have learned to take acetaminophen, aspirin, or ibuprofen to stop the fever. I don’t recommend this practice in most conditions. The body knows what it’s doing, and increasing the body temperature actually improves immune function. One thing you can do to help this process along is actually help your body to induce a sweat: drink some warming tea like ginger, take a hot bath, and wrap up under the covers.

A note about vaccination.

There is understandably some controversy in regards to whether or not to vaccinate, and I do feel this is a personal question, one which you must decide for yourself after careful consideration of the facts. The influenza vaccine undeniably decreases the risk of contracting the flu virus.(7) It therefore is a part of U.S. public health policy, which seeks to decrease the number of people put at risk of severe illness from influenza every year. It does this by decreasing the number of people in the population who can spread the illness. This is known as ‘herd immunity’.

However, while we know that vaccination reduces the risk of contracting influenza, it does not prevent the possibility, and it is still definitely possible to come down with influenza, not to mention any number of other non-influenza viral illnesses which may cause upper respiratory symptoms.   The systematic review from 2013 that I list in the reference section notes that for children vaccinated with the live attenuated virus that contained strains of influenza that did not correctly match the virus they were exposed to, their risk of developing the flu was reduced by 28-71%. In those who received correctly matched strains, the risk was decreased by 75-88%. Similarly, the trivalent vaccine in adults reduced risk by 37-63% in mismatched cases, and by 54-73% in matched cases.(8) The vaccine works via the functioning of your immune system, and thus in someone with a weakened immune system such as the elderly or those with chronic illness, the vaccine offers less protection. Also, just because you have influenza-like symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have the ‘flu’, and we do use that term too loosely in every day life. Thus, we can see that vaccination does not guarantee immunity to either the flu or to other upper respiratory infections.

It is therefore still very important that you ensure you have a healthy immune system, regardless of whether you decide to vaccinate or not. If you do decide to vaccinate, I recommend requesting to only receive either single-dose units of the injectable form of the vaccine, or the nasal spray vaccine which contains the live attenuated virus, as both of these options do not contain the mercury-containing substance thimerosol. Although I cannot say for sure whether the mercury in the thimerosol-containing vaccines is enough to cause harm, it is worth avoiding the risk, as mercury is known to be toxic in extremely low levels.

I’m Dr. Jeremy Fischer and I practice integrative medicine in Los Angeles, including the areas of Beverly Hills, Burbank, Encino, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Van Nuys.

To Your Health,

Dr. Fischer

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*Dr. Fischer sees patients for various mental, emotional, and physical health concerns. Please feel free to contact him at vitalityintegrativemedicine@gmail.com or 424-278-HEAL (4325), or CLICK HERE to sign up for a free ten minute phone consultation.

References:

  • Besedovsky L, Lange T, Born J. Sleep and Immune Function. Pflugers Arch. Jan 2012; 463(1): 121–137. Published online Nov 10, 2011. doi:  10.1007/s00424-011-1044-0. PMCID: PMC3256323

  • Cohen S, Doyle WJ, Alper CM, Janicki-Deverts D, Turner RB. Sleep habits and susceptibility to the common cold. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169:62–67.

  • Bergman P, et al. Vitamin D and Respiratory Tract Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. PLoS One. 2013 Jun 19;8(6):e65835. Print 2013.

  • Neiman DC. Exercise Immunology: Practical Applications.  Int J Sports Med. 1997 Mar;18 Suppl 1:S91-100. PMID 9129268

  • Hunt C, et al. The Clinical Effects of Vitamin C Supplementation in Elderly Hospitalized Patients with Acute Respiratory Infections. Internat. J. Vit. Nutr. Res 64 (1994) 212-219 www.whale.to/a/Hunt194.pdf

  • Klenner FR. Virus pneumonia and its treatment with vitamin C. Southern Medicine and Surgery, 1948, February. Vol 110, No 2, p 36-38, 46. http://www.whale.to/v/c/index.html

  • Osterholm MT, et al. Efficacy and effectiveness of influenza vaccines: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2012 Jan;12(1):36-44. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(11)70295-X. Epub 2011 Oct 25. PMID 22032844

  • Tricco AC et al. Comparing influenza vaccine efficacy against mismatched and matched strains: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Med. 2013 Jun 25;11:153. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-11-153. PMID 23800265